A Darker Purpose
by D. Vanvliet
Summary: Demons are everywhere, espescially in the heart of a certain ex-monk. What can Kagome do to save him from himself? MirKag AU In this dark version of Kagome's present Tokyo, InuYasha, Miroku, and Kagome are leading an AU version of their lives in the Fueda
1. Default Chapter

A Darker Purpose

_I: Excessive Behavior_

"Never mind, Kikyo. He's already…done. Yes. I'll take care of him. No, I don't want help. I don't need your kind of help, Kikyo! Just stay there with InuYasha – it's the one thing you're good at, isn't it? …Just forget it, I'm sorry. No. Hell, _yes_, I said! I'll take care of it, damn it! Don't I always?"

Sighing heavily, she closed the cell phone with a frustrated click.

She wondered sometimes how things could have gotten so bad. It seemed like things shouldn't even be this way, like they were all living a different life from what they were meant to, doing other things than what they were destined to…

Kagome had arrived at the rundown apartment complex too late to 'save' the last of her best friends. Oh, he wasn't dead – yet – but when he woke up in the morning, he'd wish he was.

Shoving the cell phone into her pocket, Kagome pushed down the overwhelming sense of hopelessness and fear that welled up inside of her at the sight of obviously well-ravished and extremely over-inebriated friend. She walked across the street, barely acknowledging the three barely-dressed young women practically holding him up.

"Hi, Kagome," the one on the far left said with a smug smirk as she openly caressed the lean, well-formed hand dangling around her white neck. The witch ran one finger over the three silver rings adorning two long fingers and his thumb.

Inwardly furious and disgusted, Kagome ignored her. She bit her lip as she dragged the staggering boy out of the girl's arms and hefted one of his arms over her shoulder. Two of the girl's were giggling as he grinned back at them, his white teeth flashing roguishly in the darkness. The third girl, Yuka, just looked at him with a weak, embarrassed wave.

Furious at him, at Kikyo and InuYasha, at Naraku, at the whole damn world, Kagome bit back a snarl and painstakingly turned away. The two giggling girls went slowly silent as they walked back inside the doors, the latches clicking behind them.

"Kagome!"

Kagome closed her eyes as Yuka called out to her.

Back in grade school, Yuka had been one of her closest friends – but that had been before Naraku, before InuYasha…before…everything. Now Yuka was a party girl, looking older than her eighteen years, living in near squalid conditions in a sad-looking flat with a half-dozen other girls who also made their livings on their back.

"I'm…sorry, Kagome. I swear, I called you guys as soon as he showed up. I tried to get him to leave, but then Eri just kinda' latched on to him, and you know how she is – " the girl cut herself off with a small cough. When she spoke again it was in a thin, reedy voice. "I'm so sorry, Kagome. He's just so…charming to us, you know?"

Kagome gave a half-smile as she turned her head to look at the boy leaning heavily on her shoulder. His violet eyes were dazed just then. He was drunk off his ass – again – and had no clue what the hell was going on around him, but he still managed to recognize her.

He smiled at her, his head dropping against her temple as he sighed against her cheek.

"Hmmm..Kagome. Always smell…so sweet," he murmured seductively against her skin.

Kagome turned her head away, trying to ignore the myriad of scents emanating from him and his clothes. Leather, liquor, and…something sweet and salty, and…just something else she'd long-since come to recognize but didn't want to think about.

"Yes, he's _really_ charming…to anything with tits and a vagina," she told the other girl in a cold voice.

Yuka gave a soft gasp, but Kagome's words were far past truly shocking her. She was probably more shocked by the fact that sweet, innocent Kagome had said them, than by anything else.

"Kagome, just remember…we're really clean here, okay? You don't hafta' worry about him…y'know. We just got our tests back, everyone is…healthy. Everyone is real careful, here, you know? You just…I just want you to know that."

Feeling sick to her stomach, Kagome kept walking. She focused on keeping the boy next to her from tumbling over and crushing her on the dirty asphalt with his muscular, much taller frame.

"Yeah, Yuka. I'll…remember that." That, and everything else, too, because she'd hafta' gouge her own eyeballs out to even _try_ to forget all the things she'd seen the pervert get himself into over the last year…

"Thanks for calling us, Yuka." Kagome tried to say in her friendliest voice, because it really wasn't Yuka's fault…for the sake of a long-lost friendship.

Good-hearted Yuka grabbed at the smidge of nicety like a lifeline. "No problem, Kagome! Take care!"

Kagome gave a tiny laugh as she reached her old car and leaned her friend up against the hood while she opened the passenger side door.

'Take care'. Yeah, right. Take care of 'him', maybe. What else was she good for these days?

Miroku woke up in the blackest depths of Hell…or so he thought. It also could be – and most probably was – Kagome's bedroom, with the black drapes drawn over the windows, cutting out any light that might have the indecency to shine through and stab him in his aching, light sensitive eyeballs.

Groaning, he turned over, nuzzling his face into soft, clean pillows. He tried to move, to begin the torturous motions of waking up the arm and leg he'd slept on, but his sweaty bare skin was tangled in the sheets, damp from the humidity outside.

He was aware that he'd been violently ill, because his throat still burned with stomach acid, and the muscles of his abdomen were sore from heaving the better part of the night, no doubt…but he was also unsoiled. He didn't smell like anything besides his own clean sweat, and he knew who he had to thank for that…

"What the hell were you thinking?" he snapped out loud. "I told you not to go there anymore, didn't I? Tell me you didn't. Tell me InuYasha brought me back here."

"Hey, baka. Good morning to you, too."

Miroku winced and put one hand to his head at the sounds. He knew she was talking in her softest voice, but his hangover was wicked. Any sound at all felt agonizing to his ears.

"Kagome," he groaned, burying his face into the pillows again. Guilt was eating him inside out these days, and it didn't help knowing he'd treated her to yet another sleepless night because of him and his revoltingly uncouth ways.

"InuYasha was busy with Kikyo last night – you knew that, though." Her voice wasn't bitter though, not anymore.

Miroku rolled onto his back, gritting his teeth together until the room stopped moving around him. He opened his eyes and stared sightlessly into the darkness, clenching his gloved right hand hard as a searing pain swept through its center.

Well, he'd succeeded in what he'd set out to, last night, at least. He'd gotten so slammed he'd forgotten about the slow, deadly growth of his kazanna over the past few months. It was almost worth the hangover to have had a few hours release – miserable though they had been – from the knowledge that his destruction was imminent. Any week, now, no – any day – the black void in his hand could widen to its utmost and he would never be able to control it. The wind tunnel would open, suck him in, and leave nothing but an ugly crater in the earth to show that he'd ever even existed.

"Why did you even bother, again?" he asked her quietly, aware that she was standing at the end of her bed in the dark. "Why do you keep going there?"

"Because I know that's where you'll be."

Miroku closed his eyes. "You can't save me, Kagome. We've gone far past that."

"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

He smiled. "It's not as if I have anything better to do." His answer was kind of a little joke between them – it was his answer for everything, these days.

Kagome wasn't amused. "You're going to end up killing yourself before Naraku ever does, you know."

"Wouldn't that be the greatest 'fuck you' ever?" He gave a little laugh.

"I answered your question. Now you can answer mine. What were you doing there last night?"

"Kagome," he groaned.

"Tell me."

"You know what I was there for," he said coolly, sitting up despite his discomfort. He'd had a hundred mornings like this – he'd live. "Have you ever thought that perhaps I was just created for a somewhat darker purpose than what we have all been given to assume?"

"Miroku – "

"Are my clothes ready yet?" he asked arrogantly, making her sound as if she were a servant.

It was like this at least three nights a week – Kagome would get a call from someone about where he was getting shit-faced once again, and she'd trek out into the dangerous, lonely night, usually alone, to pick his worthless ass up. She take him home – _her_ home, because he didn't technically have one - clean him up, put him to bed – _her_ bed - and take his clothes down to the cleaners a block away from the old shrine to be 'fumigated'.

There was a faint rattling sound of plastic at the end of the bed. "You mean these?"

Miroku scrubbed a hand over his face. He should have known better than to treat her as if he took her for granted – she always had been able to see right past his shit. If she got mad at him, it was because he was hurting himself, not her.

"It's dangerous for you to be out, vulnerable like that," she continued as if he hadn't interrupted. "He's got most of the shards, now."

Miroku stood up, holding a sheet over his bare hips even though it was too dark for her to see anything. He kept his head down, his long, loose black hair covering his face as he silently held out a hand for his clothes.

Kagome sighed, and thrust the plastic covered hangers at him.

"You're stronger than this. What happened to you?"

Miroku slowly, methodically removed his clothes from their coverings and pulled them on without bothering to answer. She already knew. One by one they went on – threadbare, once-black jeans, his well-broken in black boots from beneath the edge of the bed, a faded dark purple t-shirt that fit comfortably snug against his flat stomach and hugged the lean muscles of his biceps. One thing was missing, though – and it was too important to leave without. And she knew it, damn her.

"Where's my coat?"

"You'll get it when you answer my question."

Miroku clenched his jaw and tossed his head back, gathering up the shoulder-length fall of his hair and knotting it through itself into a neat tail at the base of his neck.

Kagome knew what he was doing. "Do you know how long it takes me to get the rats out of your hair when you just knot it all up like that? Why can't you just use elastic, or a leather thong like everyone else?"

"You know I always lose them," he finally said, a hint of amusement in his smooth voice.

"Can I have my coat, now?"

"What were you doing there again, Miroku?"

He bit back his anger and reached out to the nightstand, snapping on the small lamp she had there. He had to blink away the spots that filled his vision, and lifted a hand to rub his temples as the small amount of light struck his eyes, but it was worth it. He could work his charm on her in the light; at least, make her believe that everything and everyone was going to be just fine – until the phone call, at least. In the dark things got way too honest between them for his comfort.

Miroku didn't look at her as he lifted his cursed hand and tightened the prayer beads wrapped around the specially-fashioned purple glove covering the void. It had grown overnight, again – just the slightest bit, but it was enough. He could almost _hear_ the change in the air it was sucking in around the edges of the sacred seal.

"Miroku?"

He slid the silver ring the glove was attached to tighter against the base of his middle finger, trying to ignore her. He dropped his hand and fiddled with the heavy silver rings decorating his other hand. He had four silver rings, and three small silver hoop earrings – two in one ear, one in the other. Black and purple and silver – the mix of mysterious colors was a little conceit of his…plus, of course, the ladies _loved_ it –

"Did your uncle throw you out again?'

Miroku finally looked at her from beneath his lashes as he tugged at the ring around his left thumb. She looked tired. Beautiful as ever, but still…tired. She had bruises under the big, heavily lashed brown eyes that held little of their former innocence; her long, full black hair was a little mussed from the sleepless night spent in the hard desk chair next to the bed as she watched over him.

"I haven't been at my uncle's in days," he said, trying to sound light-hearted. It wasn't so easy for him to pretend anymore.

"Is that why you went there?"

"Kagome – I was just looking for a place to…to rest my head for a few hours."

"I don't think you had any kind of 'rest' in mind," she snorted darkly.

He tried his most winning smile on her, knowing it would melt even her. "Now, Kagome. Would you begrudge me some harmless fun before I go to my grisly death?"

The smile didn't work this time, though. She exploded on him.

"It's not 'harmless', Miroku! You're such an idiot! Why do you keep hurting yourself like this? You've got to stop punishing yourself!"

His façade of pleasantness disappeared. "I'm not trying to punish myself, Kagome! I'm trying to _forget_! But you won't let me!"

"Damn it, Miroku! Sango died because of Naraku! She – "

"I killed her! Fuck, why don't any of you _get_ that? It happened right in front of you! InuYasha, Kikyou – you were all there! You saw her get sucked in to the kazanna – "

"Naraku threw her into the path of the wind tunnel, Miroku! It wasn't your fault!"

"It was my fault! I didn't seal it fast enough!" Miroku realized he was screaming, and took a huge breath. He calmed himself before he dared to look at her again.

"Just keep away from me from now on, Kagome. I never asked for your help, and I never expected it. I'm dangerous to be around now – there's nothing I can give you, not even friendship. I don't have anything to lose – but you do."

Kagome shook her head. "What? My boyfriend? InuYasha already made that decision for me. My friends? Three of them are whores, one's dead, and another's doing his best to kill himself. My family – they were all taken by Naraku. Do you actually think he let them live? I have shit to lose, Miroku."

Miroku took a long stride forward, and grabbed her shoulders. "Don't be foolish, Kagome."

She shrugged away from him. "Don't you get it? We can't beat him split apart like this! This is what he wants, Miroku! He wants us all to be alone, and scared, and…a-and…"she trailed off, tears choking her throat.

He gentled his touch. "I'm not scared of Naraku, Kagome, but I am scared for you. I am scared of being alone, too. But with him having most of the shikon shards, now…I don't know what we can do to stop him. We're nothing but a couple of shabby freedom fighters to Naraku, Kagome. He doesn't think of us as a serious threat anymore; not since…not since last year."

Last year, when Sango had died, and he had lost his faith…when Kikyou had finally succeeded in dragging a selfish InuYasha away from a heartbroken Kagome.

"Please don't go back there tonight," Kagome asked him softly, breaking him free of the horrors of his memories.

Suddenly infuriated with her, he pushed away and strode towards the door, and the long black leather coat that he could now see hung from the hook on the back of it.

"Why not?" he practically snarled, jerking the coat from the hook and shoving his arms into the silky lining. "It's not like I have anything better to do!"

He held up his hand – inadvertently, the cursed one – as she approached. "Just stay out of it, Kagome! If I want to drink and fuck the rest of my lousy, worthless life away, then I will. There's not a damn thing you can do about it. Just stop trying to save me. My father proved he couldn't be changed, and so have I."

"Living like this is only going to kill you faster!" she echoed her words from earlier.

Miroku smiled sadly. "Drinking isn't going to kill me, Kagome. After all, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right?"

Her voice stopped him just as he put his hand on the doorknob.

"If you're so scared of being alone, Miroku…why don't you just stay with me? Why can't you forget…with me?"

Miroku froze, his mind absorbing the meaning in her words. Slowly, he dropped his hand from the door, and turned back on her.

She was serious.

"Are you offering to help me forget, Kagome?" he asked silkily, lowering his voice several notches.

Kagome, his best, truest friend ever, actually looked at him with fear in her eyes. She tried to hide it well, but he could see it through the determination in her gaze.

That she would look at him as if she was scared of him, of what he could do to her, made him feel sick. But he could see here lay his escape – and hers, even if she didn't realize it now.

"Changed your mind?" he purred, stepping towards her as he tucked his hand inside his pockets. "You'd let me fuck you if I agreed not to go there again? You'd let me, knowing where I've been? What I've done?" His lips curved in a sensual, wicked smile. "_Who_ I've done?" He lifted a hand from his pocket to touch her and she actually flinched.

Miroku pushed away the pain in his heart and laughed again, mockingly this time. "Why are you acting so afraid, Kagome? I know you aren't a virgin. InuYasha told me all about your nights together last year," he lied, watching her eyes go wide. "He said you were very – "

"InuYasha never touched me like that," Kagome whispered. "If he said that, he was lying. We never slept together."

Miroku leaned back, stunned. Kagome and InuYasha had been inseparable for _years_. It wasn't true that InuYasha had told him about their nights, but Miroku had thought – it had seemed obvious that they had –

"You – y-you're a…_virgin_?"

Kagome looked indignant. "Of course I am! You think I'd have let InuYasha do that to me while I knew he wanted Kikyou, too? Give me a little credit, baka!"

It was a long moment before Miroku could speak again. The thought that she would…that…just to keep him home, to keep him safe…panic tore through him, because in that moment he realized he loved her.

And to love Kagome was to kill her….just as his father had killed his mother. Just as he had killed Sango.

Miroku bared his teeth at her even as his hand scrabbled for the doorknob behind him. "Just stay away from me, Kagome! Don't come looking for me, tonight – not if you don't want to get hurt! I might just be drunk enough to take what you're so foolishly offering!" He turned away from the wrenching hurt in her large, soft eyes and practically ran down the upstairs hall, vaulting the railing to land on the landing below in his haste to get as far away from her he could…because he was just weak enough now, selfish enough now, to want to forget _everything_ with her…

Kagome stood motionless, stricken, in the doorway of her room. The silence in the empty house, in the whole shrine, was deafening. After a moment, she turned away from the door, and collapsed upon the bed, crying. She knew tears only made things worse, but she couldn't hold them back any longer.

He couldn't see that she was in love with him, and had been for over a year. He couldn't see that while he was off, trying to distance himself, trying _not_ to hurt her…he'd already hurt her more than he could ever believe.

_To be continued in Chapter II_

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha, or any related characters._


	2. Chapter Two: A New Addiction

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha, or any related characters._

A/N: Well, color me surprised! I originally meant for this fic to be a two-parter, but it kinda' started writing itself – or maybe it was just 'dark' Miroku teasing me with that 'Come hither' grin of his, LOL. So, yeah :sighs: it's going to be a bit longer than intended, hence the repost. I'm not sure yet, maybe four or five chapters. **_Warning!_** There _is_ a fair bit of Kikyou-bashing in this chapter – it's not because I HATE Kikyou – I just think she's a very complex character, and you gotta' admit she's VERY contrary; helpful one moment, hateful the next. Anyway, Kikyou-lovers – don't take it personally! Thanks for reading everyone!

A Darker Purpose

_II: A New Addiction_

Miroku's cold temper was at a rare, all-time high as he slammed a single, carelessly loud punch with the base of his fist into the flimsy apartment door. The sound was sudden and violent, and the door shuddered on its hinges with the force.

He stood in the dimly-lit hall of the second floor of the apartment complex and waited with angry impatience for the occupants within to answer. Despite the light bulbs being out in the ancient fixtures overhead, a brave, stray beam of early afternoon sunlight was shining in through the grimy window at the end of the corridor, and hitting the side of his face. He wearily turned his head away from it, but it followed, teasing at the corner of his aching eye past the barrier of his heavy silver sunglasses.

The lock on the other side of the door clicked, and Miroku looked back as it slowly swung open to reveal the shadowy, svelte figure of the undead priestess Kikyou.

He didn't spare her much more than a disdainful glance before pushing the door further open and brushing past her to get inside.

"Where the fuck is he?" he snapped, looking around the clean but threadbare furnishings of the small apartment.

Kikyou only looked back at him sullenly, and he gave a snort of disgust and walked through the minute living area and kicked open the door into the even smaller bedroom.

As expected, the hanyou instantly leapt up from his sleeping position on the futon at the sudden intrusion, his ever-present sword, Tetsusaiga, firmly in hand. He was fully dressed in his red fire-rat cloth jeans and matching long red duster over scuffed black leather motorcycle boots and a white t-shirt, clearly staying ready in case of an attack, and Miroku smirked – _how convenient._

InuYasha immediately relaxed upon seeing his life-long friend, and ran a clawed hand through the tangle of his long white mane as he scowled sleepily at him through glowing gold eyes. "Damn, Miroku, what the fuck are you – "

Miroku balled his cursed hand into a tight fist and hit the half-demon with an uppercut to the jaw so hard it threw InuYasha into the wall as his head snapped back. His hand felt half-broken from the blow, but the pain was worth seeing the stupid bastard hit the floor – even if it only was for a few seconds.

InuYasha fingered his tender jaw in disbelief before he looked up at him with murder in his eyes.

Miroku jumped on him before he had the chance to speak. "What the fuck were you thinking, sending Kagome to get me last night!" he exploded, ripping off his sunglasses in the thankfully dark room. "Do you know how wasted I was? I couldn't have defended her against a fucking fruit fly if Naraku had suddenly decided to come after us! Where the hell were you? I thought we'd talked about this!"

InuYasha leapt to his feet, the expression of fury on his face fading into one of confusion. "What the hell are you talkin' about? I didn't send Kagome anywhere last night - _sonofabitch_!" His eyes widened with sudden realization. He bit off the curse with a fierce shake of his head and pushed past Miroku, out into the narrow hallway.

"Kikyou!" he bellowed, slapping the door out of his way, leaving claw marks in his wake.

Frowning, Miroku followed him, and found the miko glaring into the face of her lover as he yelled at her. Realization burst upon him, too, and he clenched his jaw against the sudden urge to strangle the dark-haired woman. The bitch had succeeded in stealing InuYasha back from Kagome many months ago, but she was still irrationally hateful and jealous when it came to the girl's and InuYasha's 'working' relationship.

Miroku had known of this, but he'd had no clue the woman would go to such lengths to try to hurt Kagome – and she had been trying, if she'd sent her to retrieve him from the dark part of Tokyo he'd been in last night.

Kikyou must have intercepted a call meant for InuYasha from one of their many contacts last night, and then called Kagome…

Miroku shook his head at her in silent disbelief of her audacity. "You cold-hearted, devious-minded bitch! You purposely sent her out there to find me, didn't you? _By-her-fucking-self!"_

Miroku took an enraged step forward, years of meditation and ingrained discipline barely holding him in check when InuYasha threw up a hand to silently tell him to back-off.

"I've had it with this shit," he snarled, well aware he had issued more oaths in the past two hours than he had in the entirety of his kami-cursed life. In another time, another existence, he might have quietly wandered off to pray to Buddha for guidance and temperance, but he had all but forsaken his sacred duties in the past long year. He'd lost his friend, the girl he'd begun to think would be the ONE for him, and with her, he'd thought he'd lost everything – his heart, his hope, his faith…

Now Kagome, the girl he'd always thought of as belonging to InuYasha, had unearthed his heart from where he'd buried it along with Sango. Ever since her death, he'd known exactly what he was, and where he was going – directly, and unerringly _down_ – and then, as if Heaven had opened up and shone down on him that morning, Kagome had made him hope, only for the merest instant…but apparently it had been enough.

His heart was lost to her, and now he didn't even have the slightest clue who the hell he was, anymore.

"Kikyou, if I ever – "

"I'll take care of this," InuYasha told Miroku in a grim, uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Miroku looked his friend in the eye. After a moment of silent communication, he gave a tight nod.

He wasn't the only one who'd changed in the past year. After practically dumping Kagome to move in with Kikyou, it hadn't taken InuYasha long to figure out that his precious priestess had changed dramatically since her unholy resurrection. The hanyou had matured a lot emotionally since then, and Miroku knew that he often regretted his guilty decision to take care of Kikyou.

Miroku now understood just how much. He'd always thought he'd known what InuYasha was missing in letting go of Kagome, but now he _knew_. InuYasha was even stupider than he'd ever thought.

He could have lived the fairytale.

A burning pain shot through his palm, reminding him that this was reality, and while evil, hell born demons abounded, fairytales very definitely didn't fucking exist...

Miroku mentally sighed in disgust at his maudlin thoughts, and jerked himself out of his stupor, fisting his hand against the jolt of pain.

Kagome, fairytales…he didn't know what he was thinking. The happenstance direction of his thoughts only proved to him again what he'd known for the longest time – he wasn't any use to _anyone_ dead-sober.

Speaking of, his throat was beginning to feel a bit parched…

Satisfied that InuYasha would straighten his clay mannequin out on a few things, Miroku gave Kikyou an unhurried up-and-down glance that spoke volumes of his loathing for her, and turned to stalk out of the oppressive atmosphere of the sad little apartment.

On the way out, he paused in the sunlight to push on his sunglasses, and to again briefly ruminate over his friend's _very_ questionable preference in women.

Perchance InuYasha was into Sadism…a masochist, perhaps…?

Miroku smirked at the lewd turn of his thoughts, and then shrugged. How could he be blamed? He _was_ a lecher, after all…

Tilting his head to the heavens as he stood on the sidewalk in front of the building, Miroku contemplated the perfection of the gauzy blue summer sky, all the while fighting not to wince away from its brightness. Truth be told, he couldn't recall the last time he'd truly felt the sun's light upon his skin. He knew it wasn't at all healthy, and that he was pale and wan-looking because of it – and, a more likely suspect, his overdeveloped fondness for sake.

Seeing the world in the light of day again made him think of Kagome. The urge to go back to the shrine to see her was easily overwhelming his well-honed instincts to go find a dark place with cool drinks and hot, willing women.

Miroku found himself smiling…grinning, actually. He laughed out loud, the sound seeming hesitant even to his ears as he lifted his gloved right hand, palm up, as if to catch the warmth of the purifying sunshine in his aching grasp.

He would have cried if he could remember how.

It seemed as if the goddess had cursed him with yet another new addiction…_Kagome_.

_To be continued in Chapter III…_


	3. Chapter Three: Sanctuary?

A Darker Purpose

III. Sanctuary…?

* * *

Miroku never really got the chance to agonize over if he was going to risk going back to see Kagome that day or not.

It happened just as he'd always imagined, always feared it would.

One minute he was strolling down a bustling, brightly lit Tokyo street, allowing the sunlight to slowly sink in and warm him…heal him…

And the next, the kazanna in his hand was slowly but surely opening, the glove, and his palm beginning to unfold and crumple like the petals of a fragile flower.

For a moment he did the stupidest thing he could have done, exactly what he'd always told himself he wouldn't do.

He panicked.

He panicked, mind going blank, and he just stopped where he was to hold his hand out before him and stare in dawning horror as crowds of people, _hundreds_ of people, brushed past him, going about their business with no time for the idiot holding his right wrist as if his hand might bite him, blocking their way.

It took a particularly rude jostle against his shoulder to stir Miroku into action. He forced his legs to start moving, stopped fighting against the flow of the crowd, and kept walking, holding his hand close to himself.

Now that he got a good look at it, it wasn't as bad as he'd first thought.

Oh, he was still going to die this day, but not at this very moment. He could afford, at least, to avoid causing a riot in downtown Tokyo, and not stand in the middle of the street screaming at people to run away because they would be sucked into the void in his hand if they didn't.

Still, he didn't have enough time to get safely away from this many people. Not without help, at least.

Turning against the milling crowd, Miroku forced himself back along the street, back towards the way he'd come, ignoring the looks from the people around him as he yelled at the top of his lungs the only person who would possibly be able to hear him from this distance –

_"InuYasha!"

* * *

_

The shrine was crowded today…even more so than usual, and it always was, especially with the heinous acts Naraku was committing daily.

Kagome swiped a sleeve over her forehead as she packaged a souvenir and handed the bag and receipt back to its owner.

She was helping another customer, trying to keep her mind off Miroku when she heard a familiar voice yelling obnoxiously in the distance.

"Miss – " the customer was asking.

Kagome wiped her forehead again, and bowed slightly in apology. "Sorry," she said distractedly, moving around the counter. "I think there's a problem," she started to say, but was interrupted when a figure in bright red suddenly landed in front of her. The customer gave a startled yelp and quickly walked away.

"InuYasha!" Kagome began. "What are you doing here? What's the hurry? Couldn't you have just taken your motorcycle like a normal – ? Miroku!" She finally noticed who was climbing off his back. She almost knocked the hanyou over in an effort to get to his side. She threw herself into his arms before she even realized what she was doing.

Miroku caught her shoulders. "Why, Kagome. I've only been gone a few hours. Were you missing me already?" he asked with an arrogant, though clearly strained smirk.

Kagome blushed and wrenched herself away from him, ignoring the stares coming from all around her – and most pointedly, from InuYasha.

"Geez! What is it with men?" Kagome suddenly raged. "You…you strut around with your gorgeous hair, and bright, beautiful eyes, looking all dramatic with the long, float-y coats, and tight butts, and you act like we should all fall to our knees and beg for your favors!"

InuYasha still stared at her, his mouth hanging open, while Miroku looked down at her with half-lidded eyes, and a suggestive smile that belied the tension on his handsome face.

"Well, strikingly handsome men such as me and InuYasha here _are_ rare to come by, Kagome. We are…as close to Gods as man can get, and…should be worshiped as such," he murmured teasingly…and then sank to his own knees as the effort of standing became too much.

Kagome moved to kneel beside him, biting her lip. She already knew what was happening. "Oh, shut-up, Miroku! You're gonna' get yourself in trouble talking like that, one day, you know!"

"Too late," both he and InuYasha mumbled under their breaths.

"InuYasha!"

The hanyou looked at Kagome with a slight wince, well aware of the kotodama beads around his neck and fact that she could still sit him…something he wasn't around her often enough these days for her to be able to do.

She saw his dismay and gave him a tired, reassuring smile. "It's okay, InuYasha. I just want you to go and clear out the shrine grounds, okay? It's not safe for all these people to be here."

InuYasha's ears went straight up. "Keh! I'm not leavin' you here – "

"InuYasha!" Kagome's voice rose at a familiar pitch.

InuYasha wisely withdrew. "Fine, I'll go clear out the stinkin' shrine – but if you get sucked in with the pervert, here, it ain't my fault, y'hear? I mean it," he said, his voice choked as Kagome grabbed his clawed hand and pressed a tender kiss to the back of his fingers. "I…I won't give you another fucking thought if you go…the either of you." Kagome let go of his hand, and he stared at her, bringing up his other hand to rub his fingertips against his knuckles.

"Hurry," Kagome said thickly.

With a last, lingering look at the both of them, he leapt away, alternately confusing and terrifying the visitors as he bellowed at them to leave. The people of Tokyo were used to seeing oni's and other spirit creatures wandering around, sometimes attacking, with Naraku gaining power, but this guy was truly powerful-looking – _and he was suddenly waving around a huge fucking sword!_

Needless to say, chaos ensued.

Kagome watched, bemused, as InuYasha did what he was best at – chasing people away. Saving them…she heard his loud curse as a small child fell in the rush, watched him leap into the fray and jump right back out with the crying toddler in his arms, his long red coat flaring, his silver hair a waving banner behind him as he launched himself into the flawless blue sky…

A tug on her sleeve brought her straying attention back to Miroku.

"I told him not to come here."

"He was right to. It's the only place for miles where…where you can…without fear of hurting anyone." She gazed at him, reaching out a hesitant hand to brush his long hair, now free of its knotted tail, out of his face. Dust and grit began to fill the rising violence of the air around them, blocking out the sun's rays.

Miroku caught her hand.

"You need to get away, Kagome. I don't have much time left."

"You're not going anywhere, you baka. Just hold on to me, Miroku," Kagome told him calmly, though her hands were shaking as she discreetly yanked the small glass bottle holding her last, small, remaining jewel shard from it's string around her neck.

Miroku didn't notice – he was too busy trying to pull his dangerous hand away from her. "Are you crazy, Kagome? Run away! Aren't you afraid?"

"No. I'm not afraid of anything that has to do with you, Miroku," she said with a little, trembling smile, and pushed his weakly protesting hands away as she took his cursed hand into her lap. The wind from the void whipped the fringe of her hair wildly around her face as she examined the situation.

His hand was curled into a white, bloodless fist, fingers trying vainly to withold the slowly building full power of the kazanna.

"It's not going to go away just because you will it to," Miroku said with a sad humor. "Believe me, I've tried."

Ignoring him, Kagome took his hand in hers, her fingertips brushing over his knuckles as she turned it over to examine the prayer beads that had broken, had almost given way. She held his hand up, carefully looking over the disintegrating beads until she found what she wanted.

She looked into his eyes, leaning forward until she was only an inch away from brushing her nose against his. "Miroku…"

He blinked at her, confused. "Kagome…?"

"Kiss me, Miroku…kiss me, and…I'll leave."

He caught his breath. Arousal hit him like a hard punch to the gut. "Kagome…I…" his eyes fell to her lips as she pushed herself even closer, keeping her hand on his. It was shaking almost violently now, the void close to fracturing completely. The wind built up dramatically around them, pulling at them with a pressure that was growing by the second.

"I always…wondered what you would feel like. Please? One kiss, Miroku, and I'll go."

Miroku closed his eyes and skillfully pressed his lips to hers, bringing up his left hand to cradle the back of her head, his thumb stroking the soft point of her jaw where it met the warmth of her neck. He felt her tremble, felt her pulse leap and throb against his touch. Felt his own insides quake as her lips slid open on a quiet gasp and he took advantage of it and swirled his tongue between her smooth, pearly teeth, sliding it against her own in an intimate caress before withdrawing completely.

He would have liked to drawn it out, caged her in his arms. He wanted to find out more about how she tasted, how she reacted to his touch…how long it would take to make her quiver as he gently rolled his hips against her…but walls were closing in around him, and if he wasn't careful, she'd be closed in right along with him. He didn't' want to leave her, didn't want to be alone, but there was no way he was letting her come with him to the barren wasteland he was going into. She had to go, and go now… the pressure in the air was becoming too great even for him to take.

"Kagome…darling Kagome, you must go now," he whispered against her ear, dropping his left hand to push against her shoulder as she took his cursed hand in both of hers. She didn't answer, only gave a shuddering sigh as he pulled away from her, and didn't make any move to leave. Miroku's lazy, satisfied smile disappeared to be replaced with a frown. She was doing something…doing something to his hand…no, his glove. He pulled back quickly to look into her face, but it was turned downwards, focused on something else.

"You said you'd go!" he yelled, beginning to panic, trying to force his hand away.

"But I didn't promise anything, did I?" Kagome shouted back at him over the howl of the void, struggling to keep his hand in hers.

Miroku felt tears prick his eyes – if she didn't go now, it would be too late!

"Why are you fighting this so hard, damn it! It's going to happen – there's nothing we can do about it!"

"Because I think you're worth fighting for, stupid!" Kagome's head moved, and Miroku could see now what she was doing. His eyes flew open wide.

_"No!"_ he heard himself roar, and then there was a blinding flash of pink light…and silence.

The wind was gone. The day was bright and sunny again…but quiet now. The shrine around them was completely empty of its tourists and visitors. InuYasha had done his job, safely clearing away the people.

Miroku drew a deep breath, blinking against the sunlight as he realized he was laying on the ground on his back. He was looking up at the blue sky; he could see it now, without all the debris and dust flying around, making everything around him black and gray.

Above him, something blotted out the sun, and he took a moment to refocus. It was Kagome – she was leaning over him, her long black hair falling around him, enveloping him in cool darkness

He recalled what she'd done. How could he not? It was the only reason he still existed here.

"Why?" Only the simplest words would work for him right now.

"Because…because I love you, you baka!"

Miroku smiled at her, his heart giving a wicked thump inside his chest.

Kagome turned red and looked away shyly.

Miroku sat up slowly, looking around the shrine grounds before gazing down in wonderment at the gloved hand in his lap. The glove was no longer ragged, the beads tightly strung…the seal once again complete. He lifted his left hand to finger the largest bead in the rosary. It had cracked with the force of the wind tunnel opening, leaving a small fissure in the bead…in which Kagome had placed her last purified shard of the jewel. The shard had somehow fused itself to the holy bead, and instead of plain jade, the bead was now a slightly smaller version of the complete Shikon jewel.

Miroku shook his head as the potential repercussions and other possibilities began to fill his mind. Suddenly, every instinct he had was screaming _Beware_!

"How did this happen? How did you know to do this, Kagome? Do you even realize what you've done?" He turned his head and looked at her.

Kagome gasped.

His dark violet eyes now bore shining pinpoints of brilliant, highlighted pink – twin reflections of the power of the false Shikon no Tama sealing the fully unleashed kazanna lying in wait to destroy him.

* * *

To be continued in _Chapter IIII: Tourniquet_

_Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or any related characters!_

_A/N: Thanks to Miroku-san Monkand __ZabuzaXHaku _for taking a moment to review. Thanks to everyone who also reviewed BEFORE the re-post, LOL. Next chapter might be the last, or it might not. I know how it's going to end, but I'm not sure when. There WILL be lemon-y-ness next chapter, though, so be forewarned if you are allergic – or UNDERAGE! NO PEEKING, HEAR? I don't wanna be responsible for 'corrupting' young minds, y'know? Anyway, a clean chappy will be posted at Thanks for reading! –D.V.


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